Books

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been watching a bunch of Jeremiah episodes lately.  I can’t believe I missed this series in 2002-2004.  It’s quite good, and reminds me a bit of Jericho (surprise surprise, Jeremiah was canceled).  Anyway… I just watched the episode titled “Out of the Ashes” in which a bunch of thugs are attempting to rid the world of books.  Kurdy (one of the main characters) gives a quick little speech which I thought holds a lot of meaning even in the world we live in.

How are we to know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been?
these books are a bridge to our past
they allow us to touch other lives
generation upon generation, artists, philosophers, poets
If we let them die, we’re burning those bridges
If we let these words die, we are killing our history as well as our future

Merry Christmas 2.0!

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Merry Christmas!

We’ve done Christmas a little bit different this year.

  • Hours spent in the malls: 0
  • Hours spent online shopping: 0

Sorry, we can’t give it away just yet though…

By this time everyone should have heard our request for memories for grandma.  Everyone wants to know what our gift was, and so rather than describe it, we thought we’d just show you.

Grandma's Hug Jug

To explain it, this is the card we gave her:

It was 1991, the year of the ice storm.  Your house was one of the few which still had power.  Mom dropped us off to spend the day with you.  To keep us busy, you pulled out a few empty gallons of milk which we decorated and filled with warm water.  You called them our “Hug Jugs.”  When we got cold you told us to hug them to stay warm.

It is said that memories are one of life’s greatest gifts.  They are like little hugs from the past that come to warm our hearts.  This is Grandma’s Hug Jug.  Inside, you’ll find cards which contain memories or pictures from your family and friends.  Some contain thoughts of all the times you have made us laugh, others contain memories of how you have helped us to be strong or how you have touched the lives of those who love you.

When you feel the need for a warm hug or a few giggles reach in and pull out a memory or a picture from the past.

And finally, if you’d like to read over some of the memories people have, they’re all available below:

Thanks for everybody’s help who contributed, we couldn’t have done it without you!

A Very Memory Christmas for Grandma

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

If you’re part of the Masten/Kerber family you’ve probably already seen this note from Rachel but duplicating it here just means more people might see it.

We have something special planned for Grandma this Christmas and we need your help. We are looking for memories that you have of Grandma. It can be a funny memory, a special way she has touched your life, copies of old pictures, reasons why you love and appreciate her or anything you think she will enjoy and cherish. In order for us to complete this project we need to have 10 or more memories from each person in your family. This is much easier than it sounds.  Once we started thinking the memories just kept coming and coming.

While this task definitely deserves some attention, some people might be stressing about it. Don’t over think this task as it can be as easy as reminiscing on the old days. We thought we’d throw up some ideas to get you started.

  • I remember when you 
  • I remember how you used to make us 
  • I’m so thankful for you teaching me
  • I remember the old days when
  • I appreciate the way you helped me
  • I love the way you always
  • It always makes me smile when
  • I like how   always makes you
  • When we were kids I loved when you would take us

As a more specific example:

  • I remember how we would feed the chickens at Grandpa Frankies and …

Obviously your memories don’t have to be limited to this list, but hopefully it’ll get you thinking and give you some ideas.

Remember, Christmas is just around the corner and we can’t finish this little project without your help!

BBQ with Cake

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

For my birthday Rachel organized a surprise party by tricking me into a dinner at Dinosaur BBQ.  It was a load of fun and completely unexpected.  It was my first surprise party and I’d call it a success.

To top off the great BBQ dinner at Dinosaur Rachel got everybody together for the Cake concert.  Cake is one of my favorite bands and she had been making excuses for why we weren’t able to go.  When I opened my birthday card at dinner and found 2 tickets for the concert I was ecstatic.  The concert was better than I could imagine.  Cake turns out to be one of those bands that sounds just as good if not better live than on their pre-recorded music.

An awesome birthday thanks to the worlds best wife.

And yes, I know this post is 2 months late.  Sue me.

Broad Street

~ randyaa ~ 4 Comments

I love local history.  I work in an old company in an old building with a lot of history in an old City.  Recently they sent out some information about the different stages the area the building is in has gone through along with pictures from the Rochester Public Library and the Rochester City Hall Photo Lab of the area.  Since it’s public information I thought I should share it.

In this view from 1855, the new aqueduct runs past the ruins of the first one. In 1845 Josiah Bissell built a house using much of the sandstone from the first aqueduct, cleaning up the river for the city in the bargain.

Josiah Bissell’s house, built from the red sandstone blocks of the ruined first aqueduct. See it today at 660 East Ave. at the corner of and Upton Park. It has since been expanded and is now the Rochester Methodist Home.

Rochester in the late 1880s, looking straight toward the future Aqueduct campus site. The Erie Canal and new aqueduct flow beyond the pedestrian lift bridges where Exchange St. now crosses Broad St. Old City Hall is at far left, looking much the same as it does today.

The Butts Building, newly built in 1895 with the familiar wedge shape. Six stories tall, two windows wide on the west side; six windows wide over the river. The new aqueduct and canal flow past at the first floor.

The same view in 1971. The Aqueduct Bldg. sports a new front entrance facing Broad St. at the second floor street level. Bldgs. 2 to 4 are complete. Bldg. 1 gained a seventh floor in 1951.

1897 photo of the busy aqueduct crossing the Genesee River. At left is the Kimball Tobacco Company, with the original location of the Mercury statue just visible above the smokestack. At right is the six-story Butts Building, shown here as the home of the Utz & Dunn shoe factory.

Sometime around moving day, circa 1901. Bldg. 1 with the names of Utz & Dunn and other former tenants scrubbed off. Names of the Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co., Burke & White Bookbinders and E.R. Andrews Printing Co. will soon be painted on.

The Aqueduct Building in 1906. Note that Bldg. 1 has no seventh floor yet. Bldg. 2 will soon replace the four low buildings next door. McCauley-Fien Milling Co. has the white sign further downriver. At far right, four-story buildings line the Main Street bridge, hanging over the river. The original Democrat & Chronicle building is next to them on the riverbank.

In 1917, two years prior to the transition from canal to Broad St., Bldg. 1 is still six stories tall, but Bldg. 2 has arrived with seven floors. Today’s Bldgs. 3 and 4 don’t yet exist. Cluett, Peabody & Co., makers of Arrow shirts and collars, occupies the old Kimball Tobacco Company.

1925 photo: Looking east, construction of the subway in front of the Aqueduct Building. The Broad St. bridge temporarily serves as a parking lot. Note the long pedestrian ramp exiting the subway between the street and “our” sidewalk. Also, note the man walking down the stairs into the subway at the corner of Broad and Exchange streets.

The same view in 1927. Note the completed pedestrian ramp and subway stairs from the earlier photo. In the distance, Broad St. ended at South Ave. and the Osburn House hotel. The Rundel Library didn’t start construction until 1933. Standing on the future site of the LCP parking lot, the large “Bee Hive Building,” or RG&E power station No. 25, dwarfs the Herald Bldg. (B5) next to it.

Present-day view of the river and aqueduct buildings, looking towards the Main St. bridge. Aqueduct Park graces downtown Rochester and the statue of Mercury once again stands tall on the Rochester skyline.

You can't fix stupid (Headlines)

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Some hilarious headlines my friend Emily sent me.


Alton attorney accidentally sues himself

County to spend $250,000 to advertise lack of funds

Volunteers search for old civil war planes

Army Vehicle disappears

Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum

I wouldn’t do it again, she’s been a pain this week

Ten Commandments – Supreme court says some ok, others not

Utah Poison control center reminds everyone not to take poison

Please, if you’ve seen this man

Federal agents raid gun shop, find weapons

Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25

One armed man applauds the kindness of strangers

Don't Be That Guy

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Vote.

If you live in a state like I do (New York) where the decision is likely already made it can be very disheartening to waste your time voting.  New York has voted Democrat for the past few decades (Kerry beat bush by over 18% in 2004).

The fact of the matter is, you really don’t know if your vote is going to count for much or not.  It could come down to a few hundred votes.  If that happens do you really want to be the guy sitting there thinking

“man I wish I voted”

Remember, your vote can’t count unless you give it.

Some Entertainment to ease the pain regardless of which side you sit on:

Ninja Cat

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

I try to stay away from posting other’s videos anymore but I just couldn’t in this case.  Rachel and I laughed so hard at this video we cried.  Even if you’ve seen the original, with sound it’s much better.

Main Street Rochester NY

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

Until a recent trip to the Memorial Art Gallery – to take advantage of Free Museum Day – I had no idea that the Main Street Bridge in Rochester NY was originally covered in structures much like the original London Bridge.  There’s an excellent history recap of Main St available on the RocWiki if you’d like even more of a history lesson.  An archaic style of bridge like that somehow makes me think Rochester hasn’t always been as behind on the times as it is now.  After all, they had the good sense to remove it.  A small digital copy of a painting of the Bridge can be seen below or see the full version at the Memorial Art Gallery.

Rochester Main Street Bridge – Colin Campbell Cooper

It’s always impressive to go and view Artwork in your local city.  Even a small city such as Rochester houses some famous Artwork by names you’ll recognize.

This next painting is one of my favorites at the Gallery from an Artist I’d previously not heard of.

The Exorcism of the Waves – Alessandro Magnasco

Friend Quotes

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

Continuing with the quote theme, the following is a list of quotes from my friends, last updated in 2002.  Some are funny, some are just weird.  Sorry.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing has been added or made up. Names have not been changed. Screw the innocent.

Eating a Wegmans Cream filled donut is like an orgasm in your mouth.
~Brian

Randy: but I think I’m actually going to make money on the deal 🙂
Anthony: lol
Randy: they already gave me $270
Anthony: With you involved I’d be disappointed if you didn’t

The thing that drives us in life is coincidentally.. death. Without mortality, humanity would never strive to make things better for ourselves and more importantly for our children
~Brian

Partying without you 2 (Randy & Brian) is like sex without the ass slapping
~Tim

Jen from store 82: not that I have even come close to proving my thesis
Jen from store 82: because I don’t even understand my thesis

Randy: Yeah they’re gonna know we had a women navigator cause we’re late.
Anthony: Yeah but they’ll know she wasn’t in the drivers seat cause we actually got here.

If she and I were the last two members of the human race, stranded on an island; I’d rather **** in the ocean and hope to inseminate a fish than **** her.
~Jeff

my balls are like dynamite, wanna bang
~Jeff

Be careful in the winter this summer
~Rachel

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. my teammate wrote a class, I wrote a class.
they interacted but they didn’t. I adapted and he didn’t. I was right, he was wrong. I won he lost.
~Random CS student

freeman is becoming a non-exister. I say let it fly. it can’t hurt us, only him.
~Matteo

if somebody washes that kid before the next class I’ll give him a cookie….
~Lars

Brian: btw Zack is gay

Don’t criticize someone until You’ve walked a mile in their shoes, that way, when u criticize them you’ll be a mile away and you’ll have their shoes!

There are 10 types of people in this world; those who understand binary, and those who do not.
~Tim

Randy: hey
Auto response from Anthony: off takin pic’s of my cocker 😛

There is a priest, a rabbi, and a golf pro and they all come up to this lake. Priest goes, “Bless this lake”, Rabbi goes Mimpf Minshkoosh Mincki which means, “Bless this lake”. The golf pro walks up and goes, “Wheres my ball”. And the lesson of this story, “The Devil took the ball and the lake”. No really…there is still no point to this “joke”
~Rob

Patience is:
-letting that driver in front of you go slow without pulling up to the side of him and swearing at him (actually…its usually a her).
-learning to slow it down once in a while in this fast paced society.
-just waiting for her to happen.
-expecting to be disappointed and growing on it.
-realizing how short life is and accepting what you are doing with life.
-finding a target “her” and realizing its still out of reach.
-hearing someone out before you panic
-taking a chance
-is life
-is reading this whole thing and adding your own instance of choice.
~Rob

Fighting for Peace is like Screwing for Virginity
~Anthony

Sometimes I wish I was you…
So I could have sex with me
~Lindsay – AIM Profile

Elena: poor canada
Randy: truer words have never been spoken

Randy: dork
Auto response from Corey: Randy is a dork!
Randy: hey thats not cool I didnt even talk to you yet
Auto response from Corey: yes randy is still a dork

but you were all about boobs your senior yeat
~Randy

Yeah…perhaps…I don’t think so… I don’t know.
~Randy

Matteo: did you hear about the new S-Box??? It’s great. Even better than the real thing. Yep. Microsoft teamed up with Satan to create a hybrid video game system that will make you scream. The X-box hasn’t been doing good and a new IMPROVED game system should change that statisic. I just saw a commerical yesterday for it and it was so funny. Satan was marketing it and had a little boy playing with a few of the games. Here’s a few that I can remember. Satan vs. Jesus, Hitlers final solution, Angel wars, and my favorite Terrorist Air 666!!! All great titles that will make this the greatest game experience you’ll ever see. Konard from Gamestop gave it 8 fingers up!!! He is preordering 3 of them. Stocking stuffers I guess. Well, thats about all. It’s going to be HOT!!!

My chaps are lipped.
~Rachel

make sure the munchkins put some rocks in their pockets tomorrow,
we don’t want them blowing away
~Liz

a true wise man does not play leap frog with a unicorn.
~Brian

Randy: dork
Mary Beth: am i giving you a huge…….?!
Randy: ?
Mary Beth: lolllllllll
Mary Beth: wrong screen!!!!!!

Randy: so what the hell do you want anyway?
Liz: I want you to lick Brian’s foot
Liz: that what I want

A Whole lot of nothin….
~Rachel

SmarterChild: Whatcha laughing about?
Randy Aldrich: your face
SmarterChild: Yeah? I think you’re the one with the funny face.

So it’s easy to understand and it’s understandable.
~Kristy